Entries for Matt Hester

SQL Server 2008 and PHP Web Application Infrastructure

Matt Hester — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 07:01:00 GMT

Do you want to take advantage of SQL Server's great new features for your PHP sites? Join us for this session and learn how to make it happen. We'll show you how to leverage your existing development resources and PHP knowledge by simply changing the backend to Microsoft SQL Server 2008. We'll walk through the necessary steps to get PHP and SQL Server working together and you'll see how to enjoy a successful deployment and post-deployment experience. You'll also learn where to find the information you need when you deploy and scale PHP on SQL Server, including details about security, performance, backup, managing and monitoring. After the step-by-step deployment instructions and some helpful working demos, we'll be happy to entertain your questions.

For more information:
Visit the SQL PHP blog
Download the PHP training Kit

Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Interop with Linux and OS X [Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Interop with Linux and OS X]

Matt Hester — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 07:01:00 GMT

Do you have existing Linux workstations and servers? Are you buying Apple notebooks for your personnel? If so, then you're probably wondering how to secure and share information across your organization. Join us for a session that demonstrates how to authenticate and manage non-Windows operating systems. We'll explore Active Directory (AD) extensions, management tools, security, file sharing, desktop management and a number of other key challenges we all face on a daily basis. Get set for some great demonstrations and plenty of time for questions and answers.

Visit the Microsoft Interop homepage

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Open Source Software (OSS) on Windows Server 2008 [Open Source Software (OSS) on Windows Server 2008]

Matt Hester — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 07:01:00 GMT

Are you afraid to run open source software on Windows Server 2008? Fear no more; it's easier than you think. Come discuss running LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP) on Windows Server 2008. Not interested in Linux? No problem. You'll also learn how to run open source applications with IIS7, MySQL and PHP. Along the way, we'll compare and contrast the optimum maintenance, operation and monitoring of these diverse systems and applications. This session will include several informative demonstrations and you'll get plenty of time to ask questions.

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Take a Tour of Yosemite National Park with Deep Zoom [Take a Tour of Yosemite National Park with Deep Zoom]

Matt Hester — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 14:07:00 GMT

I had a chance to see some really cool technology at SXSW. Aside from the worlds fastest server, my favorite was the Yosemite Extreme Panoramic Imaging Project. Take a quick tour here, sorry for the Yogi impression could not resist :-)

To learn more about the technologies in the video take a look here:

Project website: Yosemite Extreme Panoramic Imaging Project
Take your own tour of Yosemite National Park:
http://www.xrez.com/yose_proj/yose_deepzoom/new/XRez%20Xtreme%20Pano/index.html
Deep Zoom: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc645050(VS.95).aspx
Photosynth: http://livelabs.com/photosynth/

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Interview: Under the Hood of the WORLDS FASTEST SERVER [Interview: Under the Hood of the WORLDS FASTEST SERVER]

Matt Hester — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 16:22:00 GMT

Earl gives us an brief up close tour of the worlds fastest server. Take a look at the first interview here to learn more about the bike: http://edge.technet.com/Media/Interview-The-WORLDS-FASTEST-SERVER/

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Interview: The WORLDS FASTEST SERVER! [Interview: The WORLDS FASTEST SERVER!]

Matt Hester — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 19:00:00 GMT

Can your server do 121mph?

Well the server from the folks at hostmysite.com can!

Wendy and I were walking around the floor of SXSW, we saw a drag race motorcycle on the floor. Upon some investigation, we found the bike was actually a server, and 100% electrical. They are also having a great contest for the server, check it our here: The "World's Fastest Server" Application Challenge. Learn more about the server here: http://www.theworldsfastestserver.com/

Check out his fun interview and I was also to take an up close look at the bike. Enjoy and let me know what you think! They

Chatting with Darby, Earl and Brian from hostmysite.com

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Interview: Kai Axford talking about Preventing Corporate Espionage [Interview: Kai Axford talking about Preventing Corporate Espionage]

Matt Hester — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 08:04:00 GMT

During one of our internal conferences at TechReady I got to speak with my good friend Kai Axford. Kai is an incredible security speaker and is a part of Microsoft Trustworthy Computing (TWC) group. Kai has a ton of knowledge around security strategies and technologies, and I was very happy he agreed to a quick interview. I chatted with Kai and we talked about preventing corporate espionage, and some the obvious but overlooked ways to prevent it. Our conversation was very technology agnostic and we chatted about internal espionage as well. Imagine this quick scenario:

Bob works for you
Everyone LOVES Bob
Bob’s wife Mary comes to office and brings cookies
Mary walks around unescorted
Everyone LOVES Mary.

Does this seem pretty common scenario in your offices? If it is then you need to ask the following questions:

Does Bob LOVE the Company?
Is Bob behind on his mortgage?
What is Mary really walking around for?
Does Mary Love the company?

Kai has an excellent post talking in more detail about scenarios like the one above:

Dripping Data: Understanding and Reducing Insider Threat (Part III)

When you take a look at those questions you can really see the dangerous potential of internal corporate espionage. Just some food for thought. Check out the interview below and if you want to learn more about TWC please visit: www.microsoft.com/security

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Interview: Thriving as an IT Pro a chat with Julie-Anne Arsenault [Interview: Thriving as an IT Pro a chat with Julie-Anne Arsenault]

Matt Hester — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 17:59:00 GMT

During our internal training event in Seattle, I had a chance to meet with Julie-Anne Arsenault to talk about a program she just launched called Thrive. Julie-Anne works for the BMO, just think of her as the corporate version of me that loves IT Pro’s just as much as I do.

We had a great chat and we talked about the importance of the program to help IT Pro’s like yourselves thrive in today’s economy. My buddy Keith Combs did a great write up on Thrive on his blog here:

Microsoft Thrive - website portal launches

To learn more about the thrive program please visit: www.microsoft.com/thrive.

Take a look at the interview and let me know what you think about Thrive!

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Pete LePage and IE 8 Compatibility Interview @TechEd Barcelona [Pete LePage and IE 8 Compatibility Interview @TechEd Barcelona]

Matt Hester — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 05:10:00 GMT

I caught up with Pete LePage again, this in time in Barcelona. More importantly I caught up with him on my own turf at TechEd among all the wonderful IT Pros. Now he was the stranger in the strange land. We had a great conversation around how to think about Internet Explorer 8 and compatibility. BTW, yes that really is the Mediterranean Ocean behind us.

One of concepts we discussed in the interview was the x-ua compatible tag you can put in the HTTP Response Headers of your web servers. Look for a quick screencast to show how this is done in the near future. This metatag would affect all of the websites on the server:

"X-UA-Compatible value="IE=EmulateIE7"

Additionally the web developer can add a similar meta tag to the site or page. The fun question is what meta tag wins, if there is a conflict between the server, site, page or user setting? The answer is simple the page setting will always win in the case of a conflict.

Resources:

Great article on IE 8 and compatibility: Compatibility and Internet Explorer 8
Additional information for adding custom HTTP response headers on various versions of IIS and Apache servers:
IIS7.0, IIS6.0, Apache 2.2, Apache 2.0, Apache 1.3
Compatibly center: Internet Explorer Compatibility Center
Check out the first interview with Pete here:
http://edge.technet.com/Media/Pete-LePage-Talking-IE-8-Tools--PDC/

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Pete LePage Talking IE 8 Tools @ PDC [Pete LePage Talking IE 8 Tools @ PDC]

Matt Hester — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 22:02:00 GMT

During PDC I got a chance to chat with Pete LePage, a PM on the IE 8 team to talk about some of the improvements in the developer tool set in Internet Explorer 8. If you have not seen them yet, press F12 while using IE 8 or even take a look at the view source from the page menu.

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Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 More Reliable and Interoperable Browsing [Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 More Reliable and Interoperable Browsing]

Matt Hester — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 05:23:00 GMT

Okay this is the last screencast in this quick 3 part series I hoped you enjoyed all 3 screencasts and let me know what you think.

For the last but not least part I wanted to talk briefly about the new improvements in reliability and compatibly inside IE8. While IE8 displays content in its most standards compliant way by default as part of Microsoft’s commitment to Interoperability, there is also a built-in compatibility model that allows for content to be displayed like it did in IE7. Since March, 2008, we have been proactively reaching out to site developers and content publishers worldwide, providing education and resources about this model. In my previous post I did talk a lot about browser interop (ScreenCast: Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 part 1: Interop Goodies), and how even in beta 1 how we had the emulate IE7 mode to help facilitate compatibility. In beta 2 we now have a new option called compatibility view, and you no longer have to restart the browser for it to the page to render in compatibility mode. Additionally different tabs can render differently Ultimately we still recommend that you modify the web site or server with the meta tag (click here to learn more: Defining Document Compatibility)

To view the other parts:

Faster and Easier: Screencast: Faster and Easier IE 8
More Secure and Private: Screencast: More Secure and Private Browsing

To full the full demo all combined (about 45 minutes): IE Full Screencast

To learn more more and to download Internet Explorer 8 please visit: www.microsoft.com/ie8

(Note: IE 8 is supported on Windows XP SP2/SP3, Server 2003 SP2, Server 2008, Vista RTM & Vista SP1.)

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Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 More Secure and Private Browsing [Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 More Secure and Private Browsing]

Matt Hester — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 03:41:00 GMT

In this screencast I talk about how IE 8 is more secure, how IE 8 provides many teachable moments in helping protect everyone while they browse. Overall IE 8 has increased security, privacy and control of your data and information through its improved SmartScreen®Filter (a next generation of phishing and malware detection), domain name highlighting and InPrivate™ Browsing. What makes IE 8 fantastic is that it balances security and privacy with functionality, especially with its enhanced deletion of browsing history. Lastly with IE 8’s cross site scripting filter (XSS), we are helping to provide a security solution in the browser from a vulnerability that is detected on the server which is raising IE 8’s security measures well beyond the traditional boundary of browser security.

To view the other parts:

Faster and Easier: Screencast: Faster and Easier IE 8
More Reliable and Standards based: Screencast: More Reliable and Interoperable

To full the full screencast, all 3 parts combined (about 45 minutes): IE 8 Full Screencast

To learn more more and to download Internet Explorer 8 please visit: www.microsoft.com/ie8

(Note: IE 8 is supported on Windows XP SP2/SP3, Server 2003 SP2, Server 2008, Vista RTM & Vista SP1.)

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Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 Faster and Easier Browsing [Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 Faster and Easier Browsing]

Matt Hester — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 17:00:00 GMT

As you can tell I am pretty excited about IE8, I believe it will fundamentally improve’s everyone’s browsing experience, people like you and me, but also my dad. Honest story my dad knows how to search the web using live search, which in of itself is impressive, but when he finds let’s say an address to a restaurant, he pulls out a map to find directions. I know what your saying, we all pull out maps, but are they made out paper? My dad’s is. So how can a browser help, by bringing everyday online services to people like my dad, in a new function called accelerators. Accelerators are just one of the many improvements that extend your browsing experience beyond the page while staying connected with the things you care about most.

There is a fantastic list of new features, from search, find on page highlighting, tab improvements (work they way they are supposed to now)..etc, that I could fill my desktop with all the improvements, not to mention Webslices! So instead of me of doing that, while don’t I show you, take a look at the screencast where I showcase all the features that make IE 8 faster and easier to use.

To view the other parts:

More Secure and Private: Screencast: More Secure and Private Browsing
More Reliable and Standards based: Screencast: More Reliable and Interoperable

To view the full screencast, all 3 parts combined (about 45 minutes): IE 8 Full Screencast

To learn more more and to download Internet Explorer 8 please visit: www.microsoft.com/ie8

IE 8 is supported on Windows XP SP2/SP3, Server 2003 SP2, Server 2008, Vista RTM & Vista SP1.

in reply to Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 Faster and Easier Browsing

Slipstreaming Internet Explorer 8 into Windows Vista [Slipstreaming Internet Explorer 8 into Windows Vista]

Matt Hester — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 16:40:00 GMT

Lately, I have been doing a lot fun work with the IE 8 team. Look for a TechNet radio interview shortly I did with Jane Maliouta who is a IE Deployment Program Manager. In talking with Jane she told that she had written a post on how to slipstream IE 8 into an Windows Vista image. After checking out the post I decided to make a screencast to show how easy this is to do.

If you want to see the steps in greater detail check out Jane's post here:

Detailed Steps to Slipstream IE 8 into Windows Vista

If you have not scene IE 8 in action check out my two screen casts I did a few weeks back:

Here are some other great resources for IE8, as well as download locations:

Download IE 8 today:

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 x64

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 for Windows XP SP2

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 for Windows Server 2003 SP2

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 for Windows Server 2003 SP2 and Windows XP SP2 Pro x64

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ScreenCast: Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 part 1: Interop Goodies [ScreenCast: Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 part 1: Interop Goodies]

Matt Hester — Tue, 27 May 2008 07:52:00 GMT

In the screencast I show how IE8 is going to help with Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) 2.1 and browser interoperability. IE 8 will render in standards mode but with this meta tag:

 <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=7" />

developers can render the page in compatibility mode. For a better Code Sample take a look here: Defining Document Compatibility

While IE 8 is being designed to work with CSS 21, we are also forward looking to CSS 3.0 and some of the most popular tools. To learn more about compliance check out the white papers here: CSS 2.1 Compliance

In addition the CSS demos, I show some exciting HTML 5 features, specifically HTML 5's support for hash functionality, which allows some interesting interaction inside your AJAX applications. Also I show some of the support for connection events as well as HTML 5's DOM storage capabilities. These allow you to really have a near offline experience with IE. To learn more about the improvement with IE 5 and AJAX development take a look here:
IE 8 Better AJAX Development

Also if your looking to download beta take a look here:

Please comment and let me know what you think!

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ScreenCast: Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 part 2: Activities and Webslices!

Matt Hester — Thu, 01 May 2008 13:41:00 GMT

Activities allow you to avoid having to open several browsers to possible get to information you need. I like to think of them as "create your own URL". So how does it work, by simply selecting text you then get a "smart tag" style icon that allows to take action within context of the selected text. For example if you select an address one of your choices will be able to use a map. Activities are add-ins that do have to be installed for a list of activities that already exist take a look here: Add Activity Providers to Internet Explorer 8

Webslices are probably one of my favorite features inside of IE 8 and the first time I saw them in action, I was wowed. Webslices allow you to subscribe to content directly within a web page. Now the web pages do have to be coded on the web site to make this happen, to get started with this take a look here:
How do I make my site 'light up' with Internet Explorer 8 webslices

To view part 1 click here: Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 part 1: Interop Goodies

Also if your looking to download beta take a look here:

Please comment and let me know what you think!

Installing MOSS 2007 on Windows Server 2008

Matt Hester — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 14:37:00 GMT

The other day I was building some new demo servers to showcase search capabilities with Microsoft Office Sharepoint Server 2007 (MOSS). During the process I decided to install MOSS on my brand new RTM copy of Windows 2008 Enterprise server. I had to, it was so new and shiny! :-)

As some of you may know, I was headed down a one way street to a Program Compatibility Assistant error. So imagine my surprise when the error box on the right showed up. This product has compatibility issues, say what?

So I did a live search and found some excellent blogs from Ben Curry and Martin Kearn (BTW Martin I love Guinness too!). They had ran into the same issue on RC1 as I did and both provided great step-by-step instructions to solve the error, I provided their links are at the bottom of this post. In a nut shell, Windows Server 2008 is compatible with service pack 1 of both MOSS and WSS. So all you need to do is slipstream the SP1 bits into the MOSS setup files to avoid the error.

So why this post, well I wanted to show how straight forward this process is. So I created a quick screencast,which is about 8 minutes long. During the screencast, I show installation of the pre-requisites roles (IIS and .NET) for Windows Server 2008, and the error that is created prior to slipstreaming the files for the MOSS install. I then demonstrate how to extract and slipstream the MOSS and WSS SP1 files into the MOSS installation files. With the grand finale of kicking off the installation. Enjoy and let me know what you think!

Does your Terminal Server need a NAP?

Matt Hester — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 15:00:00 GMT

In this screencast we take a look at how easy it is to extend terminal services security with Network Access Protection on Windows Server 2008.

What is the Gateway up to?

Matt Hester — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 05:49:00 GMT

What to find out what is going on and who is accessing your Terminal Services gateway? Is this screencast I show the built-in monitoring tools that help you answer those questions.

No VPN, No corporate access, Terminal Server Gateway says "No Problem"

Matt Hester — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 23:32:00 GMT

In the screencast I take a look at the Terminal Services Gateway (TS Gateway) role service in the Terminal Services server role of Windows Server® 2008 that allows authorized remote users to connect to terminal server resources without a virtual private network (VPN) connection.

Click here for a streaming version of the screencast, or right-click on the download link below and select 'save as' to download the file to your local machine.

Your applications and Terminal Services Remote App -- A love story

Matt Hester — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 20:47:00 GMT

Want to pull the jedi mind trick on your users and make them think their applications are running locally? Well you can with RemoteApp, which allows your programs to be accessed remotely through Terminal Services and appear as if they are running on the end user's local computer. Users can run RemoteApp programs side by side with their local programs. Check out this screencast to see how.

Special note, in these screen casts you will notice that I am using Office 2003, and yes I know it is not current. I chose this based on the simple fact I did not have a volume license key for Office 2007 which is required for those applications to work on Terminal Services. For the next screen casts, can I borrow your VL key? :)

Click here for a streaming version of the screencast, or right-click on the download link below and select 'save as' to download the file to your local machine.

Your Browser or Mine, Terminal Services Web Access?

Matt Hester — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 11:57:00 GMT

So you want to use RemoteApp in browser? Well you and it is very easy to setup, all you need is Terminal Services Web Access. I take a quick tour on how easy this is to setup and work with.

Click here for a streaming version of the screencast, or right-click on the download link below and select 'save as' to download the file to your local machine.

Sneak Peek: Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services Overview

Matt Hester — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 11:49:00 GMT

There are a lot of exciting new aspects in Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services, and this is brief screencast I take a quick peek at the new Terminal Services in Windows Server 2008! In the screen casts to follow I talk with some more detail on the individual features.

Click here for a streaming version of the screencast, or right-click on the download link below and select 'save as' to download the file to your local machine.